Anarchism vs. Anarchy

I think it’s important to take a moment to make this distinction. Anarchism is a well-thought-out revolution leading to a well-thought-out lifestyle, free of oppressive/coercive hierarchies. It is an implementation of true freedom that leads to peaceful co-existence and cooperation.

Anarchy is an implementation of true freedom without any other facets. Lacking the thoughtfulness and cooperative/voluntary structures of anarchism, it is a moment of chaos which occurs when hierarchies crumble and there are non-anarchists present.

I say “non-anarchists” but what I really mean are people ill-equipped, mentally and intellectually, to think for themselves in all aspects of life without an authoritarian structure in place to think for them. Faced with the sudden loss of that authoritarian structure, these people are prone to descend into chaos until either someone educates them, someone imposes a new authoritarian structure upon them, or the unsustainability of chaos catches up with them.

Anarchy unfortunately has a tendency to welcome new authoritarian structures, as many of those people will be seeking new structures to think for them at the same time as their own behavior is erratic and their lifestyles are unsustainable.

What anarchism promises is a non-authoritarian structure that can be put in place, or even transitioned into, to avoid anarchy and the chaos which accompanies it. It’s about sustainable structures which withstand the test of time. Finally, it’s about enabling the people – both mentally and physically – to prohibit and crush any authoritarian uprisings that may seek to once more oppress them, rather than going on to seek out such structures and willingly submit to them.

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Secession is the anarchism in Mr. Harris’ piece. Although, I’m pretty skeptical…nay even cynical…about whether those that make secession happen will be anarchists or authoritarians.

Eventually, one of two things will happen in America: (a) The most likely scenario to spur secession is economic collapse, during and after which there will be very ugly anarchy for a period of time. (b) Less likely is that some state or states will decide to secede prior to a collapse in an attempt to avoid the anarchy. If that secession is done correctly, it will shorten the period of anarchy, but it will not avoid or prevent it.

But any form of secession will not be pure anarchism. By definition, governance cannot be entirely free of oppressive/coercive hierarchies. And I wonder if there is any group of people in any state that will be capable of creating a new nation that has a bare minimum of governmental entities. Look at how ingrained in our daily lives government truly is. Most people accept it and put up with it. Anarchism will be found in inverse proportion to governance. Said another way, the more government created, the less true freedom that leads to peaceful co-existence and cooperation.

The constitutional republic model of governance has been weighed in the balance of history and found wanting. It’s time to try another new model of governance… Corporate Model of Governance.